Okay, serious time. I have been in England for about a month and a week or so; and it feels like I have/could live here for my whole life. Everyone has been really nice and welcoming; even shopworkers in shops in small towns who don't deal with foreigners as much are welcoming at least. The college of Canterbury Christ Church University are amazing at making my group and me comfortable and happy; if we are confused about something we always have someone we can ask. This was an interesting time to study abroad in the UK because they are having strikes going on both in the college and countrywide; for example there are train strikes going on and sometimes teachers cancel class to go on strike. This is a good thing because it frees up weekdays to travel to other towns. The school system here is different; instead of homework you have assigned readings (that TBH no one actually expects you to do) and one essay of 2,000 words due at the end of the semester. However they expect you to put in more work for the essay; if they tell you you need 10 scholarly sources in order to get an A/B, you need like 13 sources or something of the like, and in order to squeeze in that many sources you cannot use direct quotes, only paraphrasing. I find it is a hard balance; balancing traveling and seeing things around the country and working hard to write the essays; if you do too much of one, you feel the pressure of the other. However, I am making so many friends who I know will be lifelong friends; this includes my roommate, some other people who came from America, and also other foreign students; one from Spain, one from France, and two from Italy who are so funny and lovely. I am planning my spring break trip and I am very excited for it and I will be going with 2 other students; and I am also planning to fly to Edinburgh this weekend by myself; I am finding here that gaining confidence in myself is really important and it is a hard balance between wanting to be safe by traveling with other people and getting out of your comfort zone by doing things alone. I have not felt homesick at all since I have been here; and I think a large part of that is because I chose to live in a homestay and not a dorm because it really feels like I am home with a wonderful host who has lived a full life and done a lot of traveling. My mother did send me a care package of my favorite foods; fun fact if you want foreigners to like you, bring a bottle of Ranch with you and offer to let them try it. I am so happy I did this trip and I hope that I can figure out a plan to come back.
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